Cricket: Sending Gough packing before tests ludicrous

By RICHARD BOOCK

Not for the first time in recent summers a touring side has arrived in New Zealand with the seemingly express intention of sending their best player home early.

It seemed preposterous enough last season when the Pakistan management started arranging for the premature return of star off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq, but England have comfortably matched that farce with their stance on Darren Gough.

The Yorkshire fast bowler was left out of the test squad for New Zealand, along with Surrey's Alec Stewart, after both players went against the wishes of the English Cricket Board and made themselves unavailable for the pre-Christmas tour of India.

England's premier strike bowler, Gough is scheduled to return home at the end of the five-match one-day series here.

However, the idea of the 31-year-old right-armer flying home midway through the New Zealand tour has the potential to embarrass the England selectors, particularly after Gough sparked an otherwise lame performance on Wednesday night in Christchurch when he took four wickets in two overs.

At a time when it seemed the British bulldog had been transformed into a pussycat, Gough showed just what his presence meant to the England side, sending back Craig McMillan, Chris Cairns and Lou Vincent in one over and Chris Harris in his next.

By far England's most successful bowler in the shorter game, with 159 wickets, he has now taken four wickets in an innings on seven occasions, and has twice snared five.

To make the case for a re-think more compelling, Gough found himself surrounded by mediocrity at Christchurch, where the remainder of the England pace attack looked ragged and the fielding Victorian.

Possibly the worst in both disciplines was Andy Caddick, who will be lucky to be retained for today's second ODI at WestpacTrust Stadium in Wellington after taking one for 155 in three one-day games on the tour so far.

But there were also some glaring lapses in the field from captain Nasser Hussain and besieged wicketkeeper James Foster.

And it must be said that a bottle of milk could turn faster than Ashley Giles.

Against this backdrop, and not to forget a ground-fielding performance which looked like something out of a 1940s newsreel, it seems remarkable that the tourists could even contemplate releasing Gough, let alone continue with plans to replace him.

The only ray of hope came yesterday when England coach Duncan Fletcher declined to comment on suggestions that his paceman might be asked to stay on for the tests.

"It has not been discussed," Fletcher said. "It's a complex issue and any movement has got to come from the chairman of the selection committee, David Graveney."

Graveney has so far refused to back down on his stance, although the pressure will mount again if England's bowlers turn in another sub-standard performance today.

Hussain could not offer Gough any hope of an 11th-hour reprieve, citing red tape and his lack of control over team composition.

Later, referring to Wednesday, he admitted: "One more over of Goughie, and another couple of wickets, and we would have been right in there."

It was not that long ago that Gough generated most of his speed with a knife and fork, and appeared content to follow the England tradition of becoming a line-and-length medium pacer.

Known to almost everyone apart from his wife, Anna, as Dazzler, he once used to revel in the moniker of Guzzler - and spent his developmental years moving between the Yorkshire seconds and a part-time job which involved shifting traffic cones around roadworks.

But he has become a revelation for England, consistently ranking in the top tier of the world's pacemen and bringing energy and colour to any dressing room he graces.

Off the field, the extroverted side of his nature is seldom seen and he is more likely to be found taking in a movie than at any tub-thumping nightclubs in High St.

An Independent article written in 1995 said Gough would admit to only one time when he took any notice of a newspaper article involving himself.

That was when an English reporter mentioned in one sentence Gough's name and an observation that all fast bowlers were stupid by nature.

Gough evidently threw the offending rag across the room in disgust, saying: "I don't mind him saying I'm a crap bowler, but I bloody well object to being called thick."